Body language plays a role in the interactions between student and teacher and also student to student.
Much care must be used in an online course to ensure that tone and/or sarcasm is correctly understood. Without body language to read, people are often upset by the perceived “tone” of the communication
Lessons can be developed that incorporate the use of manipulatives. The teacher guides the students through the use of the objects in order to give them a concreted visualization of the content.
Lessons can be developed to describe the phenomenon. Resources such as applets can be used to replace the manipulatives.
Teachers and students have exactly 45 minutes to complete the lesson, quiz, test, etc. If in the middle of a great discussion or if students have one more great question, when the bell rings, that’s the end of class.
Teachers and students can access the course at any time and any place that there is a computer with internet access. Students can continue discussions until they are finished. They can ask questions until they understand it.
The lesson can go on without a computer, internet access, or even electricity if need be.
Must have technology, electricity, and internet access in order to teach/learn online.
In mathematics, very traditional face to face courses are completely teacher centered.
Online courses are much more student centered. The students control the where and the when (within deadlines) they access the material. The teacher is really just a facilitator.
Students and teacher are from the same (general) area. The students are mainly from the same town and the teachers live near enough to commute.
Students can be from around the world. This adds new perspectives to discussions.
The most important part of my pedagogy is my belief that all students can learn. I am willing to do whatever it takes to help my students succeed in my classroom. I don't "give" them grades that they haven't worked hard to achieve. In an online environment, I will do the same via discussion boards and private threads. In those locations, I can reach out to each of my students with guiding questions or hints to put them back on the right path. I can see students being very successful online. The quality of teaching needs to be high in an online course because it is very different to share the information with students and see the confused faces versus sharing and waiting for a post that asks a question that everyone had been wondering about. This improves the access to teachers because the online teacher should be giving feedback on a regular basis.
Face to Face Course
Online Course
The most important part of my pedagogy is my belief that all students can learn. I am willing to do whatever it takes to help my students succeed in my classroom. I don't "give" them grades that they haven't worked hard to achieve. In an online environment, I will do the same via discussion boards and private threads. In those locations, I can reach out to each of my students with guiding questions or hints to put them back on the right path. I can see students being very successful online. The quality of teaching needs to be high in an online course because it is very different to share the information with students and see the confused faces versus sharing and waiting for a post that asks a question that everyone had been wondering about. This improves the access to teachers because the online teacher should be giving feedback on a regular basis.